Nickels: Dateline Earth nicked my ride unfairly

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, featured in a recent Dateline Earth post when he swapped his gas-guzzler limo for a hybrid Toyota Highlander SUV, says mayhaps we erred in calling it a “big” SUV. He’s right, in that it’s nowhere near as big as those monsters Dave Barry refers to with a rhetorical sweep of the writer’s hand as “Cheverlot Subdivisions.”

Here’s what hizzoner had to say in an e-mail:

I don’t want facts to get in the way of a good poke (at me), but calling the Highlander ‘really big’ is a little unfair (to the vehicle). It is decidedly not a Ford Expedition or Chevy Suburban (‘really big’ SUVs). The Highlander uses the Toyota Camry chassis. It is 1400 lbs. lighter than the Expedition and 34 inches shorter than the Suburban.

And you can see in this picture that the mare is actually taller than this SUV:

Mayor Greg Nickels and his new ride/Photo courtesy mayor’s office

… and while the mayor is a big guy, he’s right that it’s a little SUV. Still bigger than a Prius, but a big improvement over the old Caddy.

The mayor reports that his early indications are he’s getting great gas mileage. That means he’s helping warm the climate a little less.